Where lavers had been hollowed out to last Perpetually, and freely through them flowed Pure water that might cleanse the foulest stains, They loosed the mules, and drove them from the wain To browse the sweet grass by the eddying stream; And took the garments out, and flung them down In the dark water, and with hasty feet Trampled them there in frolic rivalry. And when the task was done, and all the stains Were cleansed away, they spread the garments out Along the beach and where the stream had washed The gravel cleanest. Then they bathed, and gave Their limbs the delicate oil, and took their meal Upon the river’s border—while the robes Beneath the sun’s warm rays were growing dry.
And now, when they were all refreshed by food, Mistress and maidens laid their veils aside And played at ball. Nausicaä the white-armed Began a song.
As when the archer-queen Diana, going forth among the hills— The sides of high Taÿgetus or slopes Of Erymanthus—chases joyously Boars and fleet stags, and round her in a throng Frolic the rural nymphs, Latona’s heart Is glad, for over all the rest are seen Her daughter’s head and brow, and she at once Is known among them, though they all are fair, Such was this spotless virgin midst her maids.
Now when they were about to move for home With harnessed mules and with the shining robes Carefully folded, then the blue-eyed maid, Pallas, bethought herself of this—to rouse Ulysses and to bring him to behold The bright-eyed maiden, that she might direct The stranger’s way